Stay Cool…

“Remember to get the weather in your damn book — weather is very important.”

~~ Ernest Hemingway

September first marks the beginning of Meteorological Fall, and with that traditionally the promise, the hope of cooler autumnal temperatures. This year the seasonal transition has other plans in mind and in its stead finds us making our way through another Heat Advisory with temperatures of 90° plus and predicted Heat Indices of 109° with a faint hope of much needed rain on the near horizon. It has been a hot, dry summer and  Chapel Hill in Central NC is listed as being in “Moderate Drought”, something we had thought we had left behind after leaving Colorado.

As the summer comes to an end, I continue to work on revising and completing my novel “Trade Winds” as well as drafting story ideas. From those, a new short story, INDIAN SUMMER BLUES: Memories. We often tuck away those moments that transform us, that shape our lives until some thing revives them. For Conrad Storm it’s the aromas from storefront pizza parlors that fire his reminiscences of Choli, a teenage friend from the neighborhood. Together they had plans, dreams, and schemes, that all came together one unseasonable hot autumn evening inciting the INDIAN SUMMER BLUES.

One of our ideas to beat the July heat was to head to the mountains of North Carolina for a few days, so we took a road trip out to Asheville. There we wandered about and explored, including the obligatory visit to the Biltmore Estate and Gardens. George Vanderbilt’s library is a beautiful two-story collection surrounded by dark walnut bookshelves topped with The Chariot of Aurora by Giovanni Pellegrini. We stayed downtown at the Cambria Hotel which put us within walking distance of the historic Montford Neighborhood,  the unique Woolworth Art Walk, as well as plenty of good food including Chai Pani, Posana Downtown, and Cúrate Bar de Tapas. As you stroll about you can’t help reflecting on the literary ghosts of O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, or the tragedy of the Fitzgeralds. I have not read Thomas Wolfe or Zelda Fitzgerald, but I do have both Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel and Zelda Fitzgerald’s Collected Writings on my TBR list.

Also, as I have said before, I cannot say enough about Internet Archive dot com. They are a valuable tool for research as well as a treasure trove of hard-to-find online books. And never forget your local library or book seller.

Until next time. Peace

Note on the cover photo: Storm, (Kingston, PA, May 2018)